New Rochelle Goes Green With Arbor Day Tree Planting

New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson plants trees outside of City Hall.Video Credit: Zak FaillaMayor Bramson with students from the New Rochelle Day Nursery School.Photo Credit: Zak FaillaMayor Noam Bramson and City Manager Chuck Stromme Photo Credit: Zak FaillaStudents and teachers from the New Rochelle Day Nursery School planting trees.Photo Credit: Zak FaillaNew Rochelle high school students helped mulch the newly planted trees.Photo Credit: Zak Failla

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In celebration of Arbor Day – 24 hours early, due to scheduling conflicts – several elected officials teamed with students from the New Rochelle Day Nursery and high school AP Environmental Science class to plant three trees outside of City Hall.

According to city Forester Paul Rebholz, the Littleleaf Linden trees may grow as tall as 100 feet, and will provide the area with more than 60 feet of shadow coverage when they’re fully grown in several decades.

“There are certain benefits for the city, outside of reaching our sustainability goal over the next several years,” he said. “These three trees will provide environmental benefits, and will cast nice shadows all around the area.”

Mayor Noam Bramson, who officially buried the trees with the nursery students and mulched the soil with the high school students, said that this is part of the city’s plan to plant 10,000 trees by 2030.

“Trees have a wide range of urban uses, whether they’re reducing greenhouse gas, limiting flooding or simply being beautiful, they improve our quality of life,” he said. “We’re planting three today as a symbolic gesture to improve the City Hall campus.”

New Rochelle officials noted that any resident, for a $25 fee, could request having a tree removed or planted, with permission from the city. The tree inspector can be reached at 914-235-3549.

“All of New Rochelle can have tree coverage if thet want it here. Let us know the street, and we’ll get in touch with the Department of Public Works. We want trees where they will do well,” Bramson said.

Bramson concluded his speech to a small contingency of teachers and parents by noting that while the trees were just eight feet tall today – equating them to the nursery students – they will grow to be more than 100 feet tall.

“That’s the gift of trees,” he said. “You plant them when they’re small, and it’s a gift for the future,” he said. “It’s not all that different from (the students behind me).”